Matheson, David
Philosophy of life; epistemology
- B.A. (New Brunswick), M.A. (Carleton), Ph.D. (Brown)
- Email Matheson, David
Associate Professor
Office Hours
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 12 – 1 PM in 3A49 Paterson Hall; or online by appointment.
Courses for Winter 2026
- PHIL 1200: The Meaning of Life
- PHIL 1301: Mind, World and Knowledge
Research Interests
My research interests are in two broad areas: the philosophy of life and epistemology.
My interests in the philosophy of life are centered around the meaning of life: how we should think about it (especially from a naturalistic or secular point of view), its multiple-realizability (i.e. its many, very different forms), what’s required for a life to be characterized by it, the relationship between it and creativity, and how we should respond to pessimistic views according to which however good the meaning of life is, it’s never good enough to make things truly worthwhile in life.
In epistemology, I’m especially interested in testimony (i.e. other people’s say-so) as a source of knowledge and reasonable belief, the nature of knowledge-related values, and ethical considerations relevant to both knowledge and ignorance.
Some Recent Publications
- A naturalist’s defence of meaning in religious pursuits. Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review, First View Online (2024): 1-20
- Evil and meaning in life. De Ethica: A Journal of Philosophical, Theological, and Applied Ethics 8 (2024): 44-62
- Perfectionism and vulgarianism about a meaningful Life. Journal of Philosophy of Life 14 (2024): 1-13
- Meaning in the pursuit of pleasure. Journal of the American Philosophical Association 8 (2022): 552-66
- The worthwhileness of meaningful lives. Philosophia: Philosophical Quarterly of Israel 48 (2020): 313—24
- Creativity and meaning in life. Ratio: An International Journal of Analytic Philosophy, 31 (2018): 73-87
- An obligation to forget. In S. Bernecker & K. Michaelian, eds., The Routledge handbook of philosophy of memory (London: Routledge, 2017), pp. 364-7
- Testimonial reasons. Erkenntnis: An International Journal of Scientific Philosophy, 81 (2016): 757-74
- Fundamentality and extradimensional final value. Journal of Philosophy of Life, 5 (2015): 19-32
- A duty of ignorance. Episteme: A Journal of Individual and Social Epistemology, 10 (2013): 193-205
- How to be an epistemic value pluralist. Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review, 50 (2011): 391-405